Faculty publications

Running With Unwavering Passion: Essays On Christian Service

The Compendium by resident faculty of East Asia School of Theology commemorates God’s faithfulness to this institution for the past twenty-five years. The contributing authors have highlighted some of the values in the practice of Christian service that have helped the seminary to run unwaveringly: serving as stewards of Christ, committed to mentoring, educating with reflexivity, relying on God, and enduring to the end while placing a high premium on Christ-like character. Contact EAST for the book availability.

“It is a joy to read these essays to see how the professors at EAST are cultivating a culture of leadership committed to doing and being.”—Rev Dr Henry Tan, President, International Leadership Consortium

Matthew: A Pastoral and Contextual Commentary

The Great Commission is yet to be fulfilled. Asian churches, like Matthew’s original audience, are encountering various challenges as they obey Jesus’ last command in the First Gospel. The promise of the presence of God accompanies Jesus’ command and in Matthew’s narrative God’s presence is seen powerfully in Jesus’ life. Believers today can hold to the same promise, and this promise should be an encouragement to continue preaching God’s kingdom.

Dr Craig S. Keener, Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary, endorses the work as it “attends to literary dimensions of this Gospel as well as displaying sensitivity to, and competence in, both the ancient setting of Matthew’s Gospel and modern Asian contexts … [and] properly highlights relevant issues of honor, shame, kinship, colonial contexts, and so forth and provides insights on Matthew’s Gospel from which readers in many cultures, including Western ones, will learn much. All this in a work that is well-laid out and very understandably written!”

Dr Kwa Kiem Kiok (PhD, Asbury Theological Seminary) is a Resident Faculty of East Asia School of Theology and teaches Inter Cultural Studies.

Twin Cultures Separated by Centuries

Andrew B. Spurgeon works directly from the Greek text of 1 Corinthians in a study of reverse-contextualisation, highlighting the commonalities between the contexts of Corinthian and Indian cultures and applying the epistle’s principles to Indian Christians today.
In this unique commentary, Spurgeon first presents Indian similarities to those in Corinth, moves on to biblical principles the Apostle Paul raises for the Corinthian church’s attention – especially where culture was in conflict with biblical standards – and finally reapplies these principles to the context of life in twenty-first century India.
This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to study 1 Corinthians, showing that God’s Word is not only true, but is just as relevant centuries later as when it was written.

Andrew B. Spurgeon (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is a Resident Faculty of East Asia School of Theology and teaches New Testament Studies. He also teaches as a visiting professor in India, Philippines, Nepal, and Singapore. He is the author of 1 Corinthians (Primalogue, 2012), Romans (ATA, 2013), and editor of Leitourgia (Primalogue, 2015), as well as Chairman of Publications for the Asia Theological Association.

Matthean Posteriority

This book explores the Matthean Posteriority Hypothesis (MPH), a largely neglected solution to the Synoptic Problem which holds that the author of the Gospel of Luke used the Gospel of Mark as a source, and that the author of the Gospel of Matthew used both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke as sources.
“The ‘Matthean Posteriority’ theory of Synoptic relationships is a hypothesis whose time has come. Robert MacEwen makes a moderate and judicious case, weighing its merits and its weaknesses against its rivals. Astonishingly, this has never been done before. All Gospels scholars must now take this hypothesis as seriously as its rivals.”—Dr Bauckham, a New Testament scholar, Professor Emeritus, University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall, University of Cambridge.

Dr Robert K. MacEwen (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is an Adjunct Faculty of East Asia School of Theology and teaches Biblical Studies.

Whither Christians in Civil Society in Singapore?

From Scripture and contemporary example like the AWARE saga, Dr. Kwa’s “Whither Christians in Civil Society in Singapore?” seeks to shed light on how Christians can engage in a secular, public realm. She will discuss what civil society is and how it manifests itself in the Singapore context. The discussion will also look at how religious persons, groups and religious views play a role in civil society. She will then suggest ways that Christians can and should engage in civil society, with civility and grace.

Contemporary Muslim and Christian Responses to Religious Plurality

“One of the greatest challenges of our day is how committed Muslims and Christians can live together harmoniously with increased contact… Though recognizing the problems, Lewis Winkler has discerned enough harmony in the views of a significant thinker from each community to suggest a potential bridge for cordial interaction for the rest of us over the troubled political and religious waters that engulf the globe we share.“
—J. Dudley Woodberry, Dean Emeritus and Senior Professor of Islamic Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary

Dr Lewis Winkler (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is a Resident Faculty of East Asia School of Theology and teaches Theological and Historical Studies.

Bribery and the Bible

What does the Bible say about bribery and extortion? Dr Langston explores the age-old problem of bribery. Both the Old and New Testaments are examined to discover a biblical perspective on extortion and various types of bribes. Questions are suggested to evaluate whether a particular practice is actually a bribe in the biblical sense.